Special thanks to Alan Meincke and Caitlyn Hood for their assistance with the March Bar Meeting.

Bar Vice President Ryan Brumlow opened the meeting.

Announcements from the Bar:

Thanks to all those who attend the February Bar Social at Tam’s Tupelo!

Upcoming Events:

April Social – Suggestions? Details to follow by email.

Law Day: Wed, May 10th at noon at Lanier Tech, in conjunction with the Rotary Club of South Forsyth. Evite has been sent – so check your email, and please be sure to RSVP. Cost is $12, payment is running exclusively through the Chamber of Commerce. The Evite contains a link to go online and pay.

Reminder: Please make sure your email addresses on the Bar website are correct, as email is our primary method of communication. If you need help logging in to your profile, contact Mandy Moyer.

Announcements from the Bar concluded.

​Announcements from the Bench:​

​Judge Bagley was unable to attend today, but has agreed to head the Liberty Bell award selection committee once again. The Liberty Bell ​award recognizes a non-lawyer who has impacted the legal community in a significant, meaningful way.

Nominations for the award can be emailed to Judge Bagley, or to Mandy Moyer, who will pass those along to Judge Bagley.

A call for nominations was made.

No nominations were heard.

Announcements from the Bench concluded.

Speaker: Ms. Laura Lundquist, Senior Support Account Manager, eSolutions, Tyler Technologies, speaking regarding the second eFiling system available in the Clerk of Court’s office

Some takeaways:

· Tyler System used for efficiency/consistency

· Self-help section available if you need help

· To register:

o Enter name, email, and password

o Set security questions

o 2 Options: Firm or Self-representative account

o If you already have efiling account, get firm admin to send you and invite to be connected with firm

o Orange circles = self-help guide

· Make sure you have payment set up first; can’t file if you don’t have payment method set up

Judge Bagley reported that the computer station in the attorney’s lounge is now available for use. Attorneys can use this computer to print documents that they have on a flash drive or memory stick. At this time, there is no charge for this service. Please do not abuse this courtesy.

Judge Jackson reported that the Juvenile Court applied for and received a grant to create a family treatment court. Judge Meincke will be overseeing this court. The family treatment court will be modeled after other accountability courts, such as drug courts. Child abuse and neglect issues, particularly those with a substance abuse component, will be addressed by this court. Anyone can make a referral to the family treatment court. Ashley Willingham will be the court coordinator. The court will be up and running beginning in February 2017.

Judge Boles introduced the newest part-time magistrate judge, Erin Fowler. Judge Fowler will be hearing county ordinance violations as well as handling warrants. In other Magistrate Court news, the Magistrate Court has started doing first appearance hearings on Saturdays.

Judge Boles also reminded the group that Magistrate Court has its own e-filing options. The free option can be found at www.georgiamagistratecouncil.com, and can be used presently for civil matters only. The other option is NCourt, home.ncourt.com, which costs $20.

Judge McClelland reminded the group that the State and Superior Courts are currently offering permissive e-filing of civil cases. Permissive e-filing of pleadings in criminal cases is expected, maybe as soon as March 2017. Two e-filing systems are available: PeachCourt and software from Tyler Technologies.

Jay Bland explained that our Clerk of Court, Greg Allen, and Emily Caldwell of the Clerk’s office, have provided two e-filing options for Forsyth County cases. He then gave an informative presentation regarding one of those two options: PeachCourt.

Some takeaways:

The Superior Court rules regarding e-filing also apply to State Court e-filing.

In e-filing, the “filer” should be the attorney working on the case – even if your administrative staff does the actual filing, the “filer” needs to be the person with the bar number. However, each “filer” account can have as many courtesy email addresses as you want. So, your administrative staff can still physically push the button to e-file, and receive the e-filing notifications.

PeachCourt charges $5 to file. You save your documents in PDF, and then are charged $5 to file as many documents as you want, provided they fit within a certain file size.

$5 is likely cheaper than traditional filing costs outside of court filing fees, when you consider the costs of paper, ink, and postage to and from.

Time estimates: PeachCourt takes about 5 minutes to file a new case, and about 2 minutes to file something in an existing case.

You will be able to use PeachCourt to search any open case – not just those cases that have been e-filed. So, if opposing counsel is not an early adopted of e-filing, you will still be able to see all pleadings in the PeachCourt system. (This access may or may not be through the local court portal. Just depends on the county.)

Presently, 19,000 people are using PeachCourt.

They pride themselves on customer service and responsiveness.

More features are anticipated in the future – for example, generating summons.

A list of all counties currently using PeachCourt can be found here: www.peachcourt.com/. (Hall and Dawson are using it already.)

In response to a question regarding whether e-filing will soon be available in all courts, Judge McClelland noted that the Uniform Rules Committee and the Standing Committee on Technology are working together to update the uniform rules of all courts such that e-filing rules will be uniform across all courts.

The Bar’s Holiday Party will be held at Windermere on Thursday, December 15th beginning at 6pm. Bar members and guests are welcome to attend.

She reported that the Superior Court intends to purchase a desktop computer for use by attorneys in the attorney lounge. The computer will provide USB access, printing, and internet access.

Judge Smith provided an update regarding issues with the new courthouse’s acoustics – specifically, that conversations can be heard through the walls. After discussing these issues with the architects and builders, the proposed solution is that a white noise machine will be installed. The white noise machine has been demonstrated to the judges, and it seems like a possible solution.

Judge Smith reported that State Court has initiated e-filing. E-filing has not yet been implemented in Superior Court, but is planned. A brief discussion of authentication issues inherent in e-filing was had.

Judge Jordan provided an update regarding Probate Court, which is also considering implementation of e-filing. Authentication issues related to e-filing in Probate Court include the issue of original Wills. The Probate Courts across the state are working in conjunction to determine how to handle these authentication issues.

Judge Jordan announced that Probate Court’s one year anniversary of their move to the remodeled courthouse was approximately November 1. Unfortunately, there has not been time for an open house so far. The remodeled space continues to work well; attorney scheduling is on time, with special set hearings minimizing wait times for counsel, and the AV system in the courtroom is sophisticated.

Announcements from the bench concluded.

Jennifer Patterson introduced April Breeden, Esq., a new associate at Patterson Moore Butler.

Jennifer Patterson thanked those who were able to attend Patterson Moore Butler’s open house celebrating their new office space on Thursday, November 3rd. She extended an open invitation to stop by and check out the space anytime.

Judge Bagley provided an update regarding e-filing. He has created a subcommittee for civil e-filing. The subcommittee will be working out the logistics of e-filing from a practitioner’s standpoint. The subcommittee will report to JSCC. Bar President Charlotte Ruble has been appointed to the committee, as has Tracy Ann Moore.

Charlotte Ruble noted that e-filing will be tested by a test group before going live, and that she will keep the Bar apprised of e-filing updates as they become available.

Judge McClelland gave an in-depth overview of the plan regarding e-filing.

· Tyler software will soon have the capability to view multiple documents like tabs in an internet browser. This function is expected to be available to Forsyth County users by the second half of 2017.

· Recently passed statute requires the State and Superior courts to have a standing order regarding e-filing.

· Clerk of Court Greg Allen is anticipating the use of Tyler’s Odyssey e-filing as well as PeachCorp e-filing.

· The plan is to go from permissive e-filing to mandatory e-filing. First, in civil matters, and then in criminal matters. After that, the system will be available for e-discovery.

There were no other updates from the Bench.

Charlotte Ruble noted the upcoming bar meeting dates:

· October 13th: Evening Social at Cherry Street Brewery

· November 11th: Lunch Meeting at Tam’s (NOTE: NOW MOVED TO NOVEMBER 4TH)

Ms. Daniels explained that despite the affluence of the county, there are many in need – and many of those in need are children. The mission of Fill Ministries is to help those in need in the community move from insufficiency, to sufficiency, to self-sufficiency​. Fill Ministries has identified real property that they seek to purchase to create a food and fish producing facility to serve needy families in the area as well as to sell to generate income for Fill Ministries. Click here to learn more.

Our next meeting will be our Summer Bar Party on August 11, 2106 from 12:00 noon to 1:30. We are considering two locations at this time and we will update you on more details with an Evite to the members directly.

Please be sure to send in your dues for the 2016-2017 year. Dues are due August 1, 2016.
Dues are $100 for all other members. Members barred less than two years get a reduced rate of $50 and those barred less than a year are able to join at no charge.

You will be receiving an invoice for dues in the coming days.

We now accept credit card payments for dues so please contact Logan Butler at 770-899-0846 to process your payment. You may also mail your dues to:

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President

Mandy Moyer

Vice President

Caitlyn Hood

Treasurer

Jonah Howell

Secretary

Ashleigh Wagner

Past President

Logan Butler

JOIN TODAY

The FCBA serves Forsyth County by ensuring Cumming, Georgia has a thriving and collegial legal community. We aspire to engage our members to uphold the highest level of excellence in their practices, to encourage the efficient administration of justice, and to find creative and meaningful ways to engage in community service for those in need.